pmatch1104’s Reviews > Silent Melody > Status Update

Lud! Egad! Zounds! I finally finished this book!

I've come to the conclusion that Emily is TSTL and that has nothing to do with her handicap. I keep hoping this story will get better but it just continues to drone on and on. I'm also getting sick of Ashley feeling sorry for himself and bemoaning his "darkness." MB is so repetitive that I want to scream, "I got it the first 20 times you told me." She must think her readers are really forgetful or just plain stupid.

WTF! I'm so close to DNFing this one. After taking Emily's virginity, Ashley internal dialogue is ... "He did not want her as his wife, his woman. He loved her too dearly. Sexual passion and marriage were foul things." This is one messed up character. I don't think it is possible to redeem him in my eyes.

ACK! I hate it when authors contradict themselves. Earlier MB says that after Ashley's wedding night with Alice, they fell out of love because Alice loved another man. Now, just a little later she says that "Ashley had been loved unconditionally and he had selfishly squeezed the life and the joy out of that love." What she has told the reader prior to this does not bear that out. Very confusing as a reader.

I liked Ashley in the first book of this series; however, in this story I find myself disliking him. I get that he is a troubled individual, but Mary Balogh has turned him into a self-centered, self-pitying jerk in my opinion. What took place at the end of chapter 8 just sealed my dislike of him and showed him to be a weak person who took advantage of someone he knew had a tendre for him.

Just finished the Prologue and I'm praying to God that the entire book isn't as repetitive as the first 41 pages were.